Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Dear Insulet

Dear Insulet,(Makers of the Omnipod)

Today marks my 2nd phone call to your corporation, in two days. You see,on Monday I had a pod that gave up the ghost a scant 1.6 hours post-insertion. So, I did what I was instructed to do...& called. And found out you guys can't replace it,because it's part of a clinical trial,yadayadayada. Ok, that's fine,at least your rep provided helpful info on occlusions.

So tonight,it happened again...post bolus. Only it was the actual pod that started shrieking (not the PDA) It didn't stop,& the only info coming up on the PDA was "low reservoir." I panicked, & called you guys again,needing reassurance that I could shut it up if I inserted a new pod.

"Hello, may I help you?"

BEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEeeeEeee(etc.)ppppPP

(yes you can help me,save me from this insanity of this darn pod!)

"One moment,let me look up your info."

BEEEEEEEEEEEEE

(4 minutes later)

"I'm sorry,all technical questions are to be referred to the study endocrinologist. All I can do is make a note that you called."

You have to be kidding me,lady. It's 7 pm , office hours ended at 5, and I have NO way of getting in touch with them & you can't tell me how to get this thing to shut up short of running over it with a 2000 lb Chevy Cavalier?


"I was told I should call Insulet with technical issues."

"I'm sorry, we really can't. Call X(someone else)."

Awesome. Pod is continuing it's Shriekfest,much like a screaming infant refusing to be consoled.

Fortuently,when all else fails,you can send out a Tweet & get an answer in two seconds flat. I went ahead and deactivated the pod,it continued to shriek. Next,I poked it with a pin & that took care of it,25 minutes of shrieking later.

I'm just annoyed that I'm not considered a "real" consumer & if the darn thing dies,Insulet is no help whatsoever. (neither is the endocrinologist,4 hours away)If the AP ever does materialize,it will be no thanks to you guys.

Sincerely,

Alarming on The East Coast




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nicely done. Your blog. Not the Omnipod a**#~.%* er, folks. Telling you. Running over it with a Chevy and then sending it back in full, with a copy of this blog post attached, ain't a bad idea. I'm advocating it. In full. At least the DOC came to the rescue!

George said...

That is unacceptable! Ugh, how sad is it that Twitter gets you answers faster than Tech Support?

Sara said...

When I was presenting to some health care professionals about social media, one asked why she would direct her patients online when they would just get wrong information.

Next time, linking to this post.

Scott K. Johnson said...

That really stinks. Trial participant or not, you need to have help available when you need it.